Coes Greenhouse News

by Dorothy MacFarlane, Staff Botanist

The Coes Greenhouse is a working greenhouse. We plant seeds, start cuttings, wash away bugs, and generally do all the work it takes to maintain the exhibits, right in the greenhouse. Every plant gets checked once or twice, or more, every week. That is the only way to stay ahead of the bugs that damage the plants. We don’t use pesticides, which would be easier, but not so healthy. We win the skirmishes, but we will never win the war.

Even so, the greenhouse has never looked better. We have tried many different plants in the greenhouse, and weeded out the ones that won’t flourish there. Our greenhouse is hot and dry. It faces south, so there is strong light all day. This limits the kinds of plants that we can keep. Like animals, plants have preferred habitats. Unless a plant is very adaptable, you have to provide it with the conditions it needs, or it won’t grow. There is some leeway in the greenhouse, because we have a cool end and a hot end, and there are shelves and a floor space that provide additional habitat.

We have found that bog plants thrive in our greenhouse. The bog is always wet, and likes full sun. There are grasses, reeds, ferns, sphagnum moss, and a pitcher plant. It looks, feels, and smells just like a real bog. We also grow other carnivorous plants, such as sundews, Venus’ flytraps, butterwort, and more pitcher plants. All the plants in the greenhouse are there for their educational value, but the most popular are the flytraps. While we encourage touching, smelling or feeling most of the plants, we try to discourage touching the flytraps. Each leaf trap will close only a few times in its lifetime, and after that it will no longer close, and dies. If all our visitors were allowed to close the traps, we would have none to show.

One end of the greenhouse is arranged to look like a rainforest. There are orchids and bromeliads, ferns, anthuriums, and a passion vine. The next big orchid bloom will be in February next year, with Dendrobium nobili. One or more of the bromeliads may be in bloom at any time.

As winter approaches, most of the plants will go into a more or less dormant stage. They stay green, but take less water, and won’t be fertilized. One of the most affected is the flytraps. They go under the benches onto the cold floor to rest for the winter. The exception to resting is the vanda-cross tropical orchid. It needs fertilizer all year, and can bloom at any time.

Please feel free to visit the greenhouse as part of your Ecozone tour. Enjoy the warmth on a cold day, and pretend you are somewhere far from the snow and cold.